Dawgs Open SEC Play Hosting No. 11 Texas
March 13, 2025 | Baseball
STARKVILLE – Two of college baseball's most storied programs will clash on the Opening Weekend of Southeastern Conference play as Mississippi State hosts 11th-ranked Texas.
The two teams last met in the semifinals of the 2021 College World Series with the Diamond Dawgs defeating the Longhorns 4-3 en route to earning State's first national championship.
Texas is set to play in its first SEC baseball game on Friday. That history-making contest is slated for a 4Â p.m. start followed by a Saturday game at 2 p.m. and Sunday's finale at 1 p.m.
With severe weather forecasted for the Golden Triangle and much of the Southeast, stay tuned to @HailStateBB on social media for official announcements regarding the weekend schedule.
The first two games are scheduled to be streamed on SEC Network+ while Sunday's final game will be televised on SEC Network.
Pico Kohn is slated to make his fifth-straight Friday start for MSU. The junior southpaw is a perfect 3-0 with a 2.28 ERA, 37 strikeouts and only four free passes in 23 2/3 innings. The Longhorns counter with senior left-hander Jared Spencer, who is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA, 29 strikeouts and nine walks in 21 frames.
Ben Davis (1-1, 2.16 ERA) will draw his second-straight start on the mound for the Bulldogs in Game 2 while Texas goes with redshirt junior lefty Luke Harrison (2-0, 1.53 ERA). Senior right-hander Karson Ligon gets the call for State on Sunday while the Longhorns haven't announced their pitching plans.
MSU is 13-4 and enters the SEC Opening Weekend riding a six-game winning streak. Chris Lemonis' club is coming off back-to-back midweek wins over Old Dominion (9-4) and Nicholls (2-1) in Biloxi as part of the Hancock Whitney Classic.
The Bulldogs are batting .325 as a team with 31 home runs and are averaging 8.3 runs per game. They're also fielding at a .976 clip and have swiped 28 bases in 31 attempts on the year.
Aaron Downs is pacing Mississippi State in several offensive categories including average (.395), home runs (7) and slugging percentage (1.026). Ace Reese leads the team with 23 RBI and has reached base in a dozen-straight games. Ross Highfill tops the Diamond Dawgs with seven base thefts in nine tries.
Diamond Dawg hurlers rank among the nation's best sporting a 2.77 earned run average with 201 strikeouts and 57 walks through 143 innings of work. Their ERA ranks sixth in the country while also ranking second in hits allowed per nine innings (5.54), third in WHIP (1.01) and fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (12.7).
Opponents are hitting just .175 against the Bulldogs this spring.
Kohn paces Mississippi State in strikeouts while Chase Hungate has recorded half of the team's four saves. Hungate, Evan Siary, Nate Williams, Noah Sullivan, Gavin Black and Cade O'Leary all enter conference play with flawless ERAs.
Texas dropped its season opener to Louisville 4-3 in 10 innings and has since reeled off 14-straight victories. The Longhorns are coming off a 7-4 home win over UT Arlington on Tuesday.
Jim Schlossnagle's squad sports a .310 batting average with 22 homers and is averaging 7.9 runs per game. Texas also maintains a .972 fielding percentage and are 22-of-30 in steal attempts.
Ethan Mendoza is the Longhorns' top offensive threat hitting .423 and is tied for the team lead with four long balls with Rylan Galvan and Will Gasparino. Gasparino has driven in a team-best 16 runs while Adrian Rodriguez is a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts.
MSU holds a 7-6 edge in the all-time series against the Longhorns, a series that dates back to 1922.
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